Thursday, March 24, 2011

Who Names Those Shelter Animals?

T.S. Elliot would tell you the naming of cats is a difficult matter. And when you work at an animal shelter like my friend Lynda Turpin does in sunny California, it can become tough to come up with wonderful new names on a weekly basis.

When she mentioned this challenge to me a few weeks ago on Facebook, I proposed asking you all for a list of some of your favorite pet names.

What's in it for you? How about a gorgeous cat key chain from the ASPCA for three lucky winners? I love to support this organization and it will help Lynda out too. And keep Lynda in your prayers, she lost her kitty Fifi on Wednesday and despite her sorrow, will march

into the shelter today to love and care for more precious animals.

All the photos are from Lynda's Facebook page. Thank you, Lynda for all that you do!

35 comments:

How about Poi, Mou, Stinky, Landcat,George,or J.J. These are names of past loved cats. Poi lived to the ripe old age of 24. Landcat adopted us, our youngest named him, he took over our yard as if he owned it and let us live there. Kind of like a landlord hence Landcat. George was named after Curious George the monkey.

Love this challenge. I like to name pets for past relatives, which wouldn't work for shelter animals I guess. How about: Lillie, Coooper, Agatha, Pugsy, Samantha, Scoop, Giggles, or Fancy.I also like dogs named for TV personalities and mystery characters. Then I'm just different :)

I like unusual names but I have to have a reason each name is give to its respective pet. Some of the ones that we have had are --Hoosier (who's your daddy?)Hoover(a dog who sucked up crumbs)Stinky (obvious reasons)Foster (I'm her foster mom)Ashee (her color is like wood ashes)Heinz (he was a multi variety dog)DC (darn cat)

Penny - copper colored furLady - and she was oneTuppence - who came after Penny so she was Penny 2Trubby - short for Trouble, self explanatoryMike - big ol' boxer, he just loked like a MikePeaches - Apricot colored Cocker Cream - Peaches' little mate, very pale coloringTimmy - little guyMuffin - fur ballNoel - rescued at ChristmasBisket - like dog biscuit but we played with the spellingPepper - salt and pepper coloring but more pepperFreckles - lots of themSandy - fur colorChance - by chance he followed my daughter-in-law home one dayBrandi - named at the shelter where we got her.

We lost Chance last October. Brandi is 15 and still going strong. Well, maybe not strong but still going.

I've had two cats named Pete and Repeat. The stray I'm trying to make friends with now is still named Scaredy Cat for obvious reasons, but if she gets friendly I may name her Molly. My mother-in-law had Spooky and Ninnie which was short for Nincompoop. Ninnie liked to be lifted up a few inches by her tail and dropped.

Choosing names can truly be difficult. I have pet rats and since their lifespan is so short I have to come up with lots of names-sometimes I keep the names the shelter has given, sometimes I don't. Some people have themes. In fact my female rats were all flowers or gemstones. My first girls were 4 sisters-so I named them Hyacinth, Daisy, Rose, and Violet (after the BBC comedy Keeping Up Appearances). I have boy rats now. My 4 most recent I named after Polish beers, I named another Aquinas as the markings on his head look like a tonsure. Harrison and Dylan after the musicians. My current cats are Aleister (an all black cat so I named him after Aleister Crowley), Calumet (born in my thoroughbred's barn, I named her after the famous horse racing stable), Seneca took forever to name. I finally picked it after the Native American nation. My horse already had his name-Harley-he raced under the name Bad to the Bone. My dogs, who have crossed the Rainbow Bridge, were Barrett (after musician Syd Barrett) and Brioche (her fur was colored like the buttery roll-the shelter called her Sandy-had to change it). Shelter names for some of the rats that I kept include Marlin (although I think it should be Marlon after the actor and not the fish), Wallace, Napoleon, Snickers, Abbott, Costello, Opal, and more. My first cat was Bandit and I also had Kokishin (Japanese for curious)!

My first cat was Imp - she was long and sleek and black, and it just fit her. I had her 17.5 years. The second was Tess because she had such a sweet tortoiseshell face. She got really, really sick at age 9, to my sorrow. My current cat is Gretchen - she was named that at the shelter and it just seemed right somehow; she's a gray tabby with the lovely marbling on the back. My sister had a dog the shelter named Gabby, but she didn't like that; the dog was already responding to it, though, so I suggested Abby. Her current dog is a black toy poodle named Petey. For me the name of an animal always comes from its appearance and personality...

I had a cat once that I named "General George Washington". I had planned to put a shingle on our house saying, "General George Washington Slept Here" but, alas, my son and daughter were both in their early teens and were mortified by that idea.

Other cats I have had were named Tiger, Paulie Girl, Chester, Debbie, Cleo, Midnight, Tarzan ... and my present Maine Coon Cat is named Mario because he sings like Mario Lanza.

One last comment before I head to the shelter...The names you've all suggested are great. The difficulties in naming shelter animals are (1) there are so many and you don't want duplicates, and (2) at the time you name them, you may not have known them long enough to truly know their personalities, so sometimes you have to go by looks, or just a name you like or that you think will catch people's attention (we recently adopted out a cat someone had named Goldie Hawn - a long haired orange/white beauty - and everyone noticed her name). New owners often rename their animals - which is great, but we don't want "Unknown" on their info sheets. So thanks again to Ellery and all of you for your suggestions.

My heart goes out to you, Lynda. Losing a beloved pet can be absolutely devastating.

Fun reading through all the suggestions. I have a "thing" for animals with people names. Our cats are Carl and Lenny and I know dogs named Gracie and Gunnar. How about naming some furry friends after some of our favorite fictional friends: Kelly, Lucy, Nina, Katie, Olivia, Jillian, Story, Abby, Gertie, Cooper, Molly, Tricia...help me out here, ladies...I'm not leaving anyone out, am I? Some seem like they would make exceptionally cute pet names!

Celia(Female) - Adora(Female) - CleoCATra(Female) - Dainty May(Female) - Smores(Female) - Diablo(Male) - CATnip(Either) - Ladybug(Female) - Monsieur(Male) - Coco Chanel(Female)- Dior( Male) - Noir(Either/Black Cat) - Blackberry(Either/Black Cat) - CATfish (Either) - Lady Godiva (Female) - Ainsley(Male)And, however popular it may be- I have to pay respects to my 'Hemmingway' cat that past away last May: Mittens.On a brighter note, that was super fun to come up with some creative cat names! I hope they come in handy. I volunteered at Colony Cats, a shelter in Dubin, Ohio and it was as much a blessing for me as it was the cats :)

Fraulein Weinerschnitzel, a black and tan Dachshund (we shortened her name to Schnitzel or just Schnitz) :) (for those of you having trouble with the translation, that's "Miss Hotdog", perfect name for a doxie!)

And then the cats:

Bathsheba, because she was always taking one (we shortened that to Sheba)

Tiger, a beautiful reddish-gold color

Piewacket, a black/white/gold stray

We had another cat at one time, but I don't know if we actually gave her a name, she was also a stray and the mother of Sheba and Tiger.

One of my favorite names for a pet is "Trixie" for Trixie Belden, of course. I've also used names from books, such as Ko Ko and Yum Yum. Currently, I have kitties named Winnie (tortie), Reddie Freddie (because he's a red tabby, long haired), Smokie, Pennie Peanut, just to name a few. I also had a gorgeous, polydactyl tortie named Twinkie, short for Twinkletoes!!!